2017
What if you were still here?
THREE WEEKS PRIOR
"I let go of this beam, this whole thing is going to come crushing down. Go, Lauren. Take care of the patient."
"No! No! I'm not leaving you behind. Let one hand go, and come as far as you can--"
"That won't work."
"Then let me switch places with you, Luke. You have a wife and a baby on the way..."
----------------------------------------------------------------------
“Knock, knock.” Lauren walked through the front door of the Dawson residence just like she did every time she visited since he and his wife had bought the house. She often made their home, a home of their own, and had pretty much adopted his wife as a sister of her own. The blonde Dawson twin crossed the threshold and into the kitchen where Lucas was sitting, his back to the door, and his newborn daughter curled up in his arms. He turned his head at the sight of his sister and held a finger over his lips, his goofy Dawson grin sitting on his face. “I finally just got her back to sleep.” He chuckled.
Shortly after the incident, Aubree had gone into labor and a few hours later their daughter was welcomed into the world. “Holy crap, Luke. She’s beautiful. Aubree did a good job.” Lauren joked as she cooed over her new niece. “Yeah, she did. She was...is...a freaking rockstar.” Lucas smiled. “You want to hold her?” He asked, and she nodded her head excitedly before taking a seat on the stool next to him and holding out her arms. Lucas swiftly passed his daughter into the arms of his twin sister and watched as she embraced her new role as an aunt.
Lucas walked to the refrigerator to get two bottles of water and when he turned around, he took a minute to take in the site of Lauren and the baby together. If things had gone even remotely wrong three weeks ago, this moment wouldn’t even be happening for either Lauren or Lucas. He carried the water over to her and took his seat again next to her. “Here we thought, you were going to be the first to have a baby.” Lucas commented at the irony, and how the roles had been reversed so quickly. “I’ll be lucky if Levi and I ever actually go through with this thing, nonetheless, have a baby.” Lauren retorted. “It’ll happen when it happens, but when it does, it’ll be the greatest moment of your life.”
